


Vegas Rules Apply

by riotgrrl



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, Mutual Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-10
Updated: 2020-01-18
Packaged: 2021-02-27 14:33:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 8,804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22198657
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/riotgrrl/pseuds/riotgrrl
Summary: Kara Danvers and Lena Luthor are teachers at National City High School tasked with chaperoning the school's annual Student Lock-In for seniors. After years of pining, will a full night locked in together finally push them together?
Relationships: Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor
Comments: 9
Kudos: 282





	1. The Start

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, y'all! I've taken quite a bit of time away from writing but plan to get back into the swing of things this year, starting with this fic that's been living in my brain. Hope you enjoy!

A thick, winding line of students stretches across the parking lot of National City High School, their excited chatter carried by the wind toward a 2018 Subaru Crosstrek. Their voices ring through the car’s closed windows, muffled only slightly for the single passenger inside. It’s 4:27 pm, a mild late-June afternoon, and all NCHS seniors have been invited to the school for a “Student Lock-In” sleepover preceding their graduation ceremony tomorrow afternoon, to be chaperoned by several lucky – or unlucky, depending on how they view it – teachers, including Ms. Lena Luthor. 

Lena pulls down the car visor above her and slides open the mirror, triple-checking her reflection. Her hair is pulled back in a loose, messy bun perched precariously on the top of her head. She dabs at the corner of her mouth, wiping clean a smear of lipstick that dared to explore beyond the contours of her lips. No remnants of food in her teeth, no drips of sweat on her forehead – yet, she thinks with chagrin as she looks out at the still-there sun shining brightly above – and the telltale whisper of mischief behind her eyes. 

Sliding the mirror closed again, Lena sighs as she folds the visor back up toward the top of her car. Through her windshield, Lena’s eyes are drawn to movement at the school’s main entrance, a flash of blonde hair, waving limbs, and the iconic smile of someone who even from this distance is so obviously Kara Danvers. She steps outside with a clip board in one hand and a megaphone in the other, matching the students’ excitement ounce for enthusiastic ounce. 

4:29 pm, Lena laughs softly as she gathers her phone and slips it into her pocket. Ms. Danvers is nothing if not punctual. Drawing in one last deep breath, Lena turns off the car and opens the door, the heat pouring in a stark contrast to the air conditioned cool of her car’s interior and a reminder of the promise of a sticky night’s sleep on the leather couch in the teacher’s lounge that awaits her. She grabs the duffel bag off of the passenger seat beside her, locks the car and stows the keys in a side panel of the duffel, making her way toward the front of the line of students where Kara has begun to lead them in a karaoke version of the school’s fight song, her own voice ringing loudest through the megaphone held closely to her mouth. 

“Amazing job all around!” Kara booms through the megaphone as the song comes to an end. “What a start to your very last night as National City High School seniors!” 

The students’ energy palpably increases at that. Excited shouts ring out from all around her as Lena winds her way to the front of the crowd and Kara’s side. She catches her eye and smiles that soft, shy smile she knows by now is reserved for Kara Danvers alone. Her stomach flutters as Kara’s own grin visibly widens, a feat she’d have thought impossible if she hadn’t seen it happen so many times before. 

“Alright, y’all,” Kara continues, “It is officially 4:30, which means it’s business time.” Kara brings a hand up to cover her face and begins slowly waving it up and down and changing her expression from smiling to serious in time with the movement of her hand, settling on a look so comically serious that Lena has to stifles a laugh. “You’ve got to find a way to let the students know that you’re being serious,” Kara had explained to a group of first-year teachers the schoolyear prior, when the trick had first emerged. “It’s a little silly, I know, but I’ve found that the students listen far closer if I give them a visual cue that I’m getting serious for a moment.” Lena had hummed her acknowledgement at the time, returning her attention to the bowl of salad in front of her. Still, at home that evening she had tried it out herself, waving her own hands in front of her face as her reflection in the mirror stared back at her. She’d known immediately that it wasn’t for her, her face flushing in embarrassment even in the privacy of her own bathroom; her students would just have to find their cue elsewhere. Back in the present, several students around Lena begin to mirror Kara, their own hands waving in front of their faces, smiles flickering in and out. 

Kara Danvers has been, for all of the time that Lena has worked at National City High School, the students’ favorite teacher. Though students come and go every year, Kara has never failed to dazzle each new group, and there’s no better word than dazzle to truly describe her effect. As the Freshman Class Advisor, she works with every new cohort of students to ensure a positive transition to high school through class-wide fundraisers and activities, community service projects, and town hall events for students, parents, and community members alike. She volunteers as the faculty advisor for the Rainbow Alliance, NCHS’ student-run club for LGBTQ+ students and allies and for the journalism club, and she coaches the varsity girls’ soccer team. All of this, mind you, in addition to carrying a full schedule of seven teaching periods of advanced English courses and elective journalism classes for students in 10th-12th grades. She’s nearly positive that Kara has superpowers; how else could she manage to do all that?

Lena has observed all of this about Kara over the course of their three years as coworkers, and the information has stuck for two very important reasons. First, Kara Danvers is simply impossible to miss in the NCHS community. She has befriended every teacher and school staff member, organizes the all-faculty holiday party every year, and shows up to support her colleagues and students at every turn, whether that means attending a track meet, a model UN seminar, or a choral concert. Also, it’s possible that Lena has harbored a small, hardly-noticeable, non-disruptive crush on Kara Danvers for the last three years – if by small, hardly-noticeable, and non-disruptive you mean large, soul-crushing, sleep-depriving, couldn’t-possibly-be-anything-but-unrequited crush, that is. Who could blame me, she thinks, most often between the hours of 1:00 and 4:00 am, lying there remembering Kara’s smile or laugh or that time she wore a bow tie and Lena walked into a door. Besides, she’s sure she’s not the only one harboring such a crush, among teachers and students alike.

“Here we go then,” Kara continues, pulling Lena from her reverie. “As you enter the building, please head straight to the lobby. Be sure to stop at the correct table to sign-in and pick up your registration information and your NCHS Lock-In t-shirt. From there, you can go ahead and drop your things off at your lockers and begin to gather in the cafeteria. At 5:00 sharp these doors and all the others will close, and you’ll officially be locked in for the night. This means no leaving, and that no one else can enter – so if it’s nearing 5:00 and you notice someone is missing, send them a text to make sure they’re on the way. If you have any questions, there are teachers quite literally everywhere who are happy to help. They are also volunteering their time,” Kara stresses, “so say thank you when you see them.” 

She pauses here as several hands shoot up with questions. As Kara answers the students’ few questions, Lena glances around the crowd. She spots a few other teachers along the perimeter, chatting quietly with large coffee cups in their hands. She catches the eye of a colleague from the science department toward the rear of the line and politely returns his smile with a nod of acknowledgement. There are at least a hundred students already gathered, about a third of the total number of students who will join them for the night. Her eyes search out familiar faces and she offers a smile to each that she comes across.

Lena hopes her own impact on the students is comparable in some way to Kara’s. She knows that she’s no match for the human golden retriever beside her, but she’s worked hard to position herself as a true resource for the students over the last several years. She oversees the debate team, which she’s proud to note has doubled its female student membership in the two years since she took it on, and the mathletes. Not as glamorous as the soccer team, perhaps, but equally successful in their own right. She also teaches all of the school’s chemistry classes, two robotics electives, and two lower-level calculus classes. 

Most importantly, she cares. Lena Luthor really, deeply, truly cares about her students and her colleagues and National City. It’s been three years since she moved here to join the National City High School faculty, three years since she left her home, her corrupt, unforgiving, shameful family, and everything she thought she knew about herself in Metropolis to take a chance on a new home, a new career, and a new family she’s made of her own. 

Lost in her gratitude, Lena is jostled back to awareness as students begin to shuffle past her and into the school. Next to her, Kara’s arms are spinning to direct them onward like a pinwheel. Lena takes a step back and extends an arm of her own toward the front of the school to similarly guide the students, raising an eyebrow at Kara who does little more than shrug and continue with her pinwheeling. 

It takes a few minutes for all of the students and faculty to enter the building, and Lena takes a moment to savor the quiet while she can. She closes her eyes, turning her face upward toward the sunlight. She imagines its warmth soaking through her skin and into her body, filling her up for the night. After a few more deep breaths, she opens her eyes and steadies herself, turning toward the school’s entrance to join her colleagues and students in their final night as a NCHS family. Never again will their family look the same, and Lena is determined to enjoy their last night together fully. 

Kara is leaning against the doorframe of the entrance, her clipboard hugged to her chest, her eyes sparking. 

“Waiting for me?” Lena asks, smirking at Kara as she unwraps herself from clipboard and fiddles with the clip at the top. 

“Maybe,” she laughs softly, a shy smile lighting up her face. “Can’t have our favorite teacher getting locked out, after all,” she teases. 

A bark of a laugh escapes Lena’s lips without her permission. “Well, then I’d better get you inside,” she whispers as she passes Kara and enters the school. 

She’s been looking forward to this night for months. Sure, it’s a lot of work, a big disruption to her sleep schedule and an inconvenience to her Netflix binges, but these students have worked so hard and deserve a fun night. And, Lena thinks as hears Kara swallow behind her, if she can flirt with Kara Danvers for a few hours too, well, that’s just an added bonus.


	2. Knights of the Roundtable

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The night carries on, and Lena and Kara are drawn closer together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank y'all so much for the positive response to this fic! Here's a little bonus chapter as a thank you while I continue working on the others. I've got a few more in store, so I hope you enjoy.

“Gather round! Here Ye, Here Ye!” Kara bellows as she enters the cafeteria, a soft metallic rattling following her voice. 

Lena looks up to identify the noise and feels her mouth fall open of its own accord. Before her, Kara stands in a full suit of chain link armor. Every bit of movement or twist of her body can be heard as much as seen, and as she comes closer Lena realizes that the armor is made entirely out of pull-tops from aluminum soda cans.

In truth, it’s a piece of art. The silver – or aluminum, she supposes – is polished, reflecting the sparkling fluorescent lights above. Kara has paired the ensemble with a large foam sword and shield, which she wields with great flourish, slashing the sword through the air around her as she makes her way to a microphone at the front of the large room. 

Lena is embarrassed for her. I mean, come on. Soda can armor, foam weapons and the swordsmanship of a child? And yet, it’s working for her – the Kara Danvers’ dazzle, she thinks. Or, Lena is so hopelessly smitten and sexually frustrated that she has somehow managed to become turned on by the most childish display of medieval culture imaginable. She files the thought away for another night, one involving a great deal of wine and Chinese food. 

Kara walks past, sending a gleaming smile her way, and Lena feels her insides twist. Now is not the fucking time, she reminds herself, all too aware of the fact that she’ll be sleeping only a few feet from Kara this evening – and from hundreds of students, too. 

“Welcome, knights of the roundtable!” Kara says, her voice amplified by the microphone in front of her. “Get it, knights?” she adds, spinning around to reveal a painted image of the National City High School logo on her back, a helmeted knight in black and gold with the NCHS inscription below. 

Lena adds art to the growing list of things Kara Danvers is impossibly good at, right next to science puns and wearing running shorts. 

“Dinner will be served in an hour, so until then we’ve got a few different activities for you to choose from. Mr. Scott will be hosting trivia in the Library, Mr. Olsen will be going for a photography hike and is waiting in the gym for anyone interested, and Ms. Danvers – the other Ms. Danvers – will be teaching self-defense, so you can meet her in the gym, too. The full list of activities is on the large chalkboard outside, so take a look and choose wisely. Your teacher will guide you back here in an hour for dinner, so just have fun and learn something and get going!” 

As students burst up from their seats and interrogate their friends about where they’ll go together, Lena stands and makes her way toward Kara. Lena had offered to lead an activity as well, but Kara had asked for her help with setting up and serving dinner instead – “If you don’t mind, I mean,” she’d said, “because I could really use the help and last year Winn was letting everyone take three slices of pizza and we almost ran out and had to order more which I guess wouldn’t have been that big a deal but then some students might have missed the start of the movie or been too full to enjoy the popcorn so, you know, yeah, if you don’t mind.” As if Lena would rather have been anywhere more than beside Kara. 

“Hi partner!” Kara says brightly as Lena reaches her.

“Hi,” Lena replies, too dumbstruck by the thought of Kara calling her partner to stutter out the joke she’d planned about knights on the walk over. 

“Follow me,” she says as she sets out toward the cafeteria’s kitchen, each step accompanied by the soft clink of the tabs reflecting off each other. 

“Thank you again for your help,” Kara says as they reach the kitchen, lifting two boxes off the counter and nodding at a third for Lena to grab. “I may have gone a little overboard.”

Piled around them are cases of waters and juices, cups and plates and napkins, and a delivery order from at least ten separate restaurants in and around National City.

“Kara, what is all this?” Lena asks, surprised as much by the sheer amount of food as its diversity. 

“Well, I sent out a poll to all the seniors to choose what they wanted to eat this year and there was an eleven-way tie,” she says. And to her credit, Kara does look a bit embarrassed. Her eyes dart around the small room at the trays upon trays of food, more than enough for the three hundred students and handful of teachers present. “I know I could have probably just picked one myself, but I really want tonight to be special for everyone, so I spoke with Principal Grant and she said that so long as it remained within the budget she didn’t mind. It meant calling the restaurants to see if they’d waive their delivery fees for the occasion, and they all did which was super nice, and look,” she adds, grabbing a white paper bag and throwing it on top of the two boxes she’s balancing with the other hand, “Noonan’s sent over a bunch of the leftover pastries that didn’t sell today for breakfast tomorrow, too.” 

**

It takes about a half an hour, but eventually the set-up is complete. A buffet table lines the far wall of the cafeteria and holds trays of grilled chicken and salad, pizza and bread sticks, pastas and appetizers, pot stickers and lo mein, and more. A second table nearby holds hundreds of cups with water, juice, and iced teas ready for pick-up. They added tablecloths and centerpieces to each table, and Lena is just setting the last one down when Kara comes to stand beside her.

“It’s too much, isn’t it?” Kara asks, one hand nervously coming up to push the corner of her glasses back up toward her face. 

“It is, but it’s perfect,” Lena says, truly meaning it. 

She’s rewarded with the brightest Kara Danvers smile she’s seen yet, distracted by it to the point that she doesn’t sense Kara darting forward until her arms are wrapped firmly around her.

“Oh, thanks, Lena,” she hears as much as feels against her ear. Kara’s arms engulf her in a way Lena hadn’t expected. It’s not as if they haven’t hugged before – there was that morning when Lena had brought Kara a disgustingly sweet latte from Noonan’s on her birthday, and when Kara had found Lena after the mathletes had won their first regional championship in more than a decade – but never like this. When she feels that Kara isn’t pulling away, Lena allows herself to sink more deeply into the hug for just a moment, a contented sigh falling against Kara’s neck. She inhales the scent of Kara – vanilla and coconut and something so distinctly her and memorizes the smell. 

“I’m really glad you’re here,” she hears from above her, feeling Kara’s head drop against her own, her cheek resting on the top of Lena’s head.

“I am too,” she says. “I’ve actually never had a sleepover before.”

“You’ve what?!” Kara gasps, untangling them but holding onto Lena’s arms.

“Uh, yeah,” Lena admits, flushing under the intensity of Kara’s stare. “Sleepovers weren’t really a thing at the Luthor household.” 

“Well,” Kara says, something unnamed flooding her eyes, “then my job is to make tonight equally special for you, too.” She feels Kara’s hands move from her biceps, sliding down her arms until their hands meet. Her fingers brush against her own, and Lena tangles them loosely together, squeezing tightly as she smiles softly at Kara in return.

Lena’s heart is pounding, and she’s sure that Kara must hear it even over the hum of the air conditioning. Their eyes lock and it’s different, deeper somehow. She notices Kara’s eyes drop to her lips, her tongue darting out to wet them unconsciously in response. 

Sure, she’s imagined what it might be like if Kara were to reciprocate her feelings. What it might be like to run her fingers through her soft blonde hair, to cradle her neck and press their lips together. To be able to do it any time she wants. To wake up next to Kara, curling into her warm body in the early hours of the morning for a few additional hours of sleep. But most often the weight of the impossibility of these thoughts hurts more than they help, so she banishes them and placates herself with their friendship. 

Now though, with Kara’s eyes on her, roving her face and landing time and time again on her lips, the reality sinks in that maybe these feelings aren’t so unrequited. She’s not dull, after all; she knows that’s she’s attractive, conventionally at least, and that Kara has noticed. But the idea that Kara may actually want her, want more than the friendship they have and the comfort it brings them both, has never seemed more real. And it’s the fear that comes along with that reality that has Lena breaking their eye contact just as Kara starts to move forward.

“We should, um,” she stutters, “keep working. We should, like, get those boxes put away. Lots to do,” she says, cringing at the breathy quality of her own voice.

“Yes!” Kara replies, her voice far louder than expected as she takes a step backward. “Boxes! Let’s do that.” 

The moment is broken, and Lena allows herself to breathe as Kara turns to walk back toward the kitchen. She shakes her head, trying to clear the fog that has displaced every thought that isn’t Kara Danvers was just about to kiss me. She says a silent prayer for her own sanity and her ability to make it through the night without combusting and makes her way toward Kara’s receding figure. After all, the night is only just beginning.


	3. Your Hand in Mine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The night continues for Lena, Kara, and their 300+ students and the two women draw closer during a movie.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, y’all! The snow is falling, my homework is done for the weekend, and I’m feeling generous - so I’m going to post the rest of this work! I hope you enjoy it. It’s been fun getting back into the swing of writing and your comments mean so much! Enjoy - <3

Dinner is served, and the night carries on without issue. Dances are danced, karaoke songs are sung, popcorn is popped, and soon enough the sun has set and, having changed into their school-appropriate sleepwear, students and teachers alike are settling into the school’s large auditorium for a midnight movie. Most importantly, Lena notes, nothing has changed with Kara since their almost-kiss in the cafeteria earlier. By the time they’d reached the kitchen, Kara had returned to her usual form, laughing and grilling Lena about what had constituted her childhood if not endless sleepovers. Lena could almost forget it had happened at all if not for the stolen glances and, well, the pining she could feel from Kara’s direction when she thought Lena wasn’t looking. 

As the lights go down and the opening credits begin to roll, Lena feels someone sink into the seat beside her. 

“I brought you some extra popcorn,” Kara says quietly, twisting toward Lena and holding a paper bag twice as large as the ones they’d just passed out to the students. “And I added some of this ranch powder that Alex brought with her.”

Lena reaches for a handful of popcorn and tosses a few pieces into her mouth. 

“My oh my, Ms. Danvers,” she teases between bites, one hand coming up to cover the half-chewed popcorn kernels in her mouth. “Breaking your own rules so early in the night?” 

Kara just laughs at that, sinking further into the seat and throwing far more than a mouthful’s worth of popcorn into her mouth, munching loudly and bringing her feet up to press against the seat in front of her.

Earlier in the night, the teachers had agreed to split up, placing themselves throughout the auditorium for “crowd control,” though that mostly entailed ensuring that all students’ hands – and lips – were kept to themselves. In the darkness she was pretty sure she could spot Alex, Kara’s older sister and a fellow science teacher, toward the front and a little to the left, and Winn Schott, the school’s technologies teacher, toward the right among others dispersed throughout the crowd. Lena had chosen a seat at the very back of the auditorium where she could see everyone, and toward the center for a preferred view of the screen. She’d wondered where Kara may end up, but certainly hadn’t expected her to plop down beside her; that was the exact opposite of spreading out, after all. When she’d asked Kara about it though, she’d only laughed and said, “I’m not a teacher tonight, I’m the head honcho, and head honchos can sit wherever they choose.”

Lena tries her best to pay attention to the movie – some animated film about a spy and a pigeon, or a spy who is a pigeon, or something like that – but by the one-hour mark she is far too distracted and gives up entirely, focusing instead on regulating her breathing and heartbeat. It’s not just sitting next to Kara, which she’s done dozens of times at meetings and school plays and in the breakroom. It’s Kara’s proximity in the dark, her soft laugh and the way it lingers long after a joke has finished. It’s the knowledge that she’s in leggings and the coziest looking National City University sweatshirt Lena’s ever seen, one that has survived years of laundering and that she knows must smell like Kara through and through. It’s the warmth of her arm on the seat rest so close to Lena’s, the way it grazes hers when she sets it back down after shoveling more popcorn into her mouth. It’s the way Kara subtly tilts the popcorn bag toward her whenever Lena reaches for it, a soft smile splaying her lips. 

Lena closes her eyes and lets herself imagine what it would be like to be on a date with Kara Danvers. She pictures Kara’s arm wrapping around her, resting against the back of the seat cushion, her fingers softly rubbing Lena’s shoulder. She pictures Kara leaning toward her, softly whispering silly commentary under her breath throughout the film. She holds these images and others in her head, feeling her body respond in turn. She knows she’ll come to regret this later, but for just a moment longer she allows the beautiful torture to continue.

When she opens her eyes, she feels Kara’s on her. She turns and sees that, in fact, Kara has fully twisted her body in the seat toward Lena. Her legs are curled under her, her head is thrown back against the seat’s back, her cheek resting against the soft red cushion, and her eyes, already firmly on Lena, lock with hers as she turns.

“Hi,” she whispers, that soft smile returning to her lips, blurred with sleep so that it’s toothier than usual. 

“Hello, sleepy head” Lena responds, feeling her lips curl into a smile too. “Whatcha doing?”

“Looking at you,” Kara says. Lena feels her face flush at Kara’s honesty, but she holds the eye contact, the darkness around them somehow making her braver than she felt hours earlier.

“I see,” Lena chuckles. “And why are you looking at me instead of the movie,” she asks. 

“Because you’re beautiful and distracting,” Kara replies, fumbling with her glasses and dropping her hands into her lap. Kara’s eyes drop to the floor, and when they return to Lena’s she can see the truth in them, but surprise and fear, too. “Oops,” she says, seeming to register what she’s just shared.

“You think I’m beautiful?” Lena asks, the words slipping out in a breathy whisper.

“Lena,” Kara says, and her name has never sounded so full of awe and warmth and something she’s afraid to name. “You are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met. I’ve always thought so,” she continues, “but I guess my filter is just better when I’m not so sleepy.”

Lena stares at her, trying to absorb Kara’s words and let them fill the recesses of her heart that she had long ago boarded up. She realizes too late what her failure to respond must appear to signal when Kara’s smile falters and she says, “I’m sorry, should I not have said that? I really hope I didn’t make you uncomfortable. It’s just, well, earlier I thought-”

“You didn’t,” Lena interrupts. “You didn’t make me uncomfortable. Sorry. I guess I’m just trying to process the fact that Kara Danvers thinks I’m beautiful.”

“I really do,” Kara says, her cheeks warming and her thumbs fiddling in her lap.

Lena reaches her hand over the armrest to take Kara’s in her own. Kara’s hands still, her eyes coming back up to Lena’s face. “For what it’s worth, I think you’re beautiful too,” she says.

Kara smiles, nods at Lena and turns her attention back to the screen ahead of her. But she pulls her thumb out of Lena’s grasp and begins to rub small patterns on the back of her hand. They stay like that for the rest of the movie, hands intertwined, lost in a world that has nothing to do with spies or pigeons and everything to do with what’s right in front of them


	4. Of Spies and Pigeons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Night falls, and Lena and Kara find time for themselves.

The lights come up in the auditorium, and several students are jostled awake by their neighbor.

“Okay, everyone – I think it’s officially time to go to sleep,” Kara says as she walks toward the front of the room, her hands tucked into the sleeves of her sweatshirt, her voice thick with exhaustion of her own. “Tomorrow is a big day, after all! You should know where you’ve been assigned to sleep, so you can follow Mr. Schott and Mr. Olsen to the gymnasium or Ms. Danvers to the cafeteria. If your sleeping bag is still in your locker, please grab it on your way. Quickly, quickly!” 

Students slowly begin to rise, and teachers’ voices call out to gather them together. 

“Lena,” Kara calls as she jogs up the aisle back toward Lena. “Could you do a few laps around the building to move everyone along? I’m hoping we can have the hallways clear by 1:00 and lights out by 1:15. Alex and Winn are going to take first shift, and then you and James will switch in at 4:00. A few of the other teachers will be here at 8:00 to relieve everyone and serve breakfast so you can go home and get a few hours of shut eye before the ceremony.” 

Kara smiles and thumbs at her glasses nervously. “I, uh, wasn’t sure if you brought blankets or pillows or anything since it’s your first year, but I have extras if you need any. I put them on the table in the second-floor teacher’s lounge, just in case,” she says.

“That was thoughtful,” Lena says. “Thank you.” 

“Oh, it uh, it was nothing,” Kara fumbles, rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly.

“Well, I guess I’m off to do my laps then. See you later?”

“Yes!” Kara says, with perhaps too much excitement. “I was actually hoping I could come up to the lounge with you once I’ve done my rounds. If that’s, um, okay with you, that is?”

Lena smiles. “I’d like that.” The last thing she sees before turning to walk away is the stupid grin stretching across Kara’s face.

**

Tick. Tick. Tick.

Lena glances at the clock across the room. 1:57.

After checking that the hallways were clear of all students and offering a few “Happy Graduation Day” hugs to the group she’d passed in the Chemistry hallway, Lena had headed up to the teachers’ lounge as directed. She quickly found the pile of pillows and blankets Kara had left behind and, though she had brought her own, she grabbed a pillow and threw it onto the couch beside her. Lying down, she presses the pillow to her face, inhaling deeply. Kara, she thinks, smiling into the pillow and relaxing into the couch. 

She’d wanted to stay awake to talk with Kara, but she must have fallen asleep because she’s startled awake at the sound of a metal chair scratching against the tiled floor and Kara’s whispered curses. She rolls over toward the room and through sleep-blurred vision finds Kara rubbing her hip, anguish on her face. 

“Kara?” Lena asks, moving to stand. “Are you okay?”

“Lena,” Kara apologizes, “I’m so sorry to have woken you. I was just trying to get by, and I, uh, I didn’t see the chair there and I walked right into it. I’m fine, really, the top just sort of dug into my hip so that’s a little sore.” She continues rubbing at her hip, her hand burying under the soft fabric of her sweatshirt. 

“No, that’s okay, Kara. I didn’t mean to fall asleep before you got here anyway. I guess I got too comfortable.” 

“Well, those are my best pillows,” Kara laughs, the crinkle in her brow relaxing. Without thinking, she lifts the bottom of her sweatshirt enough to reveal her hip, glaring at it and trying to find evidence of a bruise that is hours away from forming. 

Lena’s eyes immediately find the bare skin even in the dark. She takes in the smooth ivory surface and defined muscles beneath. Kara twists, and the skin pulls taut against her hip bone, drawing Lena’s eyes lower. She knows she’s staring, probably drooling if she’s honest, and she wants nothing more in this moment for her hand to be the one rubbing that skin. 

“You must think I’m a baby,” comes Kara’s voice from above where Lena is still sitting on the couch, begrudgingly drawing her eyes away from the skin and up to Kara’s face.

“Only a little,” Lena teases, patting the cushion next to her for Kara to sit. She does, throwing herself against the couch back. “So, everyone accounted for?” she asks.

“Yep,” Kara says, shutting her eyes. “And Alex actually offered to take on part of your shift too, if you want. She’s going to cover me for a few hours so that I can get some shut eye, and she said it’s been all quiet thus far and that if you want to grab an extra few hours too that’s fine.”

“Wow, that’s sweet,” Lena says. “Are you sure she doesn’t mind?”

“Not at all. She’s not going to the ceremony, so she’s got the whole afternoon to sleep away.” Lena hums in acknowledgement.

A few quiet minutes pass, Kara laid back, eyes closed and breathing evening out. Lena lies back down, head on her pillow and, after quiet deliberation, raises her legs and places them gently on Kara’s lap. Kara smiles, placing both hands on Lena’s calves and begins to gently rub up and down, hands warm and soft even through her leggings.

“This is nice,” Kara says after some time.

“It is,” Lena agrees. 

“So,” Kara starts, turning her head toward Lena, eyes blinking open. “How’s your first sleepover been?”

Lena laughs. “Well, seeing as I’ve got nothing to compare it to, I’d say quite well.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” Lena echoes. “I ate a dinner of food from three separate restaurants, sang ‘Sweet Caroline’ with three hundred other people, and I watched a movie and held hands with my crush. That probably ticks all the sleepover boxes, right?”

The words rush out and she’s startled by her own honesty when her brain catches up to what she’s said, blaming the exhaustion coursing through her body and the fact that Kara looks so soft next to her. But she doesn’t let herself regret it, thinking back to their almost encounter in the cafeteria earlier. 

“You only sampled food from three of the restaurants?” Kara asks.

Lena grabs the pillow from behind her and smacks Kara across the stomach with it. “That’s what you took away from that sentence?”

“I’m just saying,” she laughs, stealing the pillow and placing it beneath her own head. “Besides, you’ve still got a few more boxes to tick on your sleepover list.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” she says. “For instance, most sleepovers I’ve been to include secret swapping. You’ve got to tell me your deepest, darkest secrets, Lena Luthor.”

“Just the darkest?” Lena smirks.

“Yes, the darkest. There’s something about the early morning hours that lowers inhibitions.” Isn’t that the truth, Lena thinks.

“Alright,” she says, sitting up slightly against the arm of the couch. “Well, in the fifth grade I cheated on a spelling test. The word was ‘believe’ and I knew how to spell it but my eyes sort of wandered to the paper next to mine and I noticed that she had spelled it ‘beleive’ and I got nervous and doubted myself and changed it. I didn’t get in trouble or anything, just got the answer marked wrong, but since then I’ve had more confidence in my own answers, even when they feel like they’re in opposition to everyone else’s.”

“Juicy,” Kara teases. “How about something from the last decade or so?”

“Jerk,” Lena scolds through a smile, “you should specify next time if there are rules to secret swapping. Besides, you haven’t even shared one with me yet.”

“Alright,” Kara chuckles. “Well, if I’m being honest,” she drawls, “then the reason that I walked into that chair before is because while I was walking past you, you sort of, like, moaned in your sleep.”

“I, what?!” Lena exclaims.

“Moaned,” Kara repeats. “Kind of. Like, you sort of just breathed out in content, I guess. Anyway, it caught me off guard and I spun around to see what you were doing and, uh, I didn’t see the chair there.”

Lena laughs loudly, and Kara slaps one of her legs, quickly rubbing it with the other. “Stop laughing at me,” she chides, “or I’ll never tell you another secret again.”

“Alright, fine,” Lena agrees. “I just think that there’s more to this story that I’d like to hear about.”

“We can come back to that,” Kara groans. “There’s still a lot of other boxes to tick first.”

“Always so diligent, Ms. Danvers,” Lena flirts. “Carry on then.”

“Well, there is this one thing that I’ve heard people sometimes do at sleepovers,” she says shyly.

“Yeah?”

“Uh, yeah,” Kara opens her eyes, blinking away the sleep and takes a deep breath before continuing. “I, uh, I’ve heard,” she stresses, “that sometimes people will practice kissing at sleepovers.”

Lena feels the air leave her body. She’s aware in some part of her mind that Kara’s hands are still very much on her legs, that she’s curled up next to her on a couch in the darkness of a room where they are otherwise alone. Not fully, of course, with a school full of students and their coworkers – and Kara’s sister, lest Lena not forget – somewhere nearby, but in this moment, it’s just the two of them. Lena’s eyes find Kara’s in the dark. She’s biting her lip, eyes nervous and vulnerable. “If that’s, um, something that you’re interested in.”

“Well,” Lena says, eyes never leaving Kara’s, “I’d really like to have the full sleepover experience, after all.”

“That’s true. And, uh, I mean, I can’t imagine you need any practice. Not that I’ve imagined it – kissing you, that is, because that’d be, like, an invasion of your privacy or something. Which isn’t to say that I haven’t imagined it, because it’s not like there’s anything wrong with the idea of kissing you. I mean, I’m sure you’ve kissed plenty of people. Well, not plenty as in a lot just that you have kissed people before. And maybe you feel confident in your kissing skills already, but I guess, you know, you can never be too sure-”

Lena laughs, startling Kara out of her tangent. “Kara,” she says, sitting up and tucking her legs beneath her, reluctant to have Kara’s hands off her but thankful for the fact that doing so brings her even closer to the woman next to her. “Do you want to kiss me?”

Kara swallows, sitting up a bit straighter and adjusting herself so that she faces Lena fully now on the couch. “I think so.”

“Maybe you should be sure first,” Lena says, offering Kara a way out of this situation if this isn’t entirely what she wants.

“I am,” Kara replies quickly. “I, uh,” she shuffles closer, taking one of Lena’s hands in her own. “I’d really like to kiss you, Lena Luthor.”

Lena’s face reddens. Her heartbeat jackhammers in her chest, her breath comes in shorter waves. Kara Danvers wants to kiss her. It’s 3:00 in the morning, she’s on an uncomfortable leather couch in the teachers’ lounge and Kara Danvers wants to kiss her. She takes a deep breath. “I’d really like that,” she smiles.

Kara’s breath escapes her in a soft laugh, a smile breaking out across her face. Her eyes flicker across Lena’s face, taking in every bit of her. Their eyes reconnect and Lena get lost. Kara’s eyes are darker than normal, a deep cerulean, and hold so much emotion it’s blinding. She inches forward, her hand coming up to caress Lena’ cheek, dropping to her shoulder and sliding down her waist. She pulls Lena toward her, bringing her forehead to rest against Lena’s own.

“I’ve wanted this since the minute I met you,” she breathes against Lena’s lips. And it’s that simple phrase that undoes Lena. She leans forward and connects their lips, pouring every bit of feeling into the kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s coming - I promise!!!


	5. On This Old Couch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The kiss! The kiss! The kiss!

Kara Danvers is a frustratingly good kisser. Her lips are warm and soft, and she applies just the right amount of pressure as she takes Lena’s bottom lip between her teeth. Lena shouldn’t be surprised, really; it’s just another thing she can add to the obscenely long list of things at which Kara Danvers excels. And yet, she hadn’t expected this. Kara’s kiss tastes like a summer sunrise, an unspoken promise of something so intimate and familiar that Lena loses track of everything else. She senses more than feels Kara’s hands pulling her closer by her waist, one hand moving up her back to rest between her shoulder blades, fingers splayed against her. 

She doesn’t realize her own hands have ventured out of her lap until she feels Kara’s thigh tense under her hold, her breath catching in a gasp that breaks their kiss for a moment.

“Lena,” she breathes. 

Hearing her own name fall from Kara’s lips is enough to have Lena surging forward again to reconnect them. Their kiss is more frenzied after that, and when Lena feels Kara’s tongue against her lips, warm and wet and inviting, she nearly loses it right then and there. Her hands find the back of Kara’s neck and she buries them in her hair, gently scratching at the nape of her neck. It draws a moan and a muffled Fuck from Kara’s mouth that’s quickly swallowed by Lena. 

At some point, Lena realizes she’s straddling Kara, her bent knees bracketing Kara’s hips. Kara’s arms are wrapped around her, two soft, strong hands holding her waist, and she can tell Kara’s barely resisting sliding them lower. The thought of Kara’s hands on her ass, squeezing and pulling her closer is a mental image Lena’s not sure she can live without experiencing, and so she slowly grinds down with just enough pressure that it has its desired effect immediately. Kara’s hands drop lower and squeeze Lena with just the right pressure, pulling her impossibly close so that they’re both moaning at the contact. She can feel the contours of Kara’s body pressed against her, her stomach flexing at the contact.

“Kara,” she moans softly, her head falling back as Kara’s lips attach to her neck. She grinds herself against Kara again, unable to stop her body’s relentless quest for friction as Kara’s tongue laps at her collarbone. 

She’s impossibly close, embarrassingly close, and this is not how she’s going to let this happen. With every ounce of self-control she can muster, she tugs at the nape of Kara’s hairline again, her thumbs pressing gently up against the bottom of Kara’s jaw, drawing her face upward. She rests her forehead against Kara’s.

“Darling, if you don’t stop that right now there is absolutely no way I’ll be able to be stay quiet enough. And the thought of a student, or God forbid your sister hearing me moan your name is quite literally devastating.” Her voice cracks twice, and her words are thick with desire.

The words clear the fog in Kara’s mind, and she seems to take stock of their situation for the first time. Lena is still squarely in her lap, her hands resting beneath Lena’s ass and gripping her thighs. She relaxes her hold but doesn’t move her hands. Lena’s eyes drop to Kara’s swollen lips, red and wet, and she can’t help leaning down to reconnect them for a kiss much more chaste than she’d have liked. 

“Are you, um,” Kara tries, clearing her throat midway through her sentence. “Are you okay? Is this, is this okay?” 

Lena can’t help the laugh that escapes her lips. She brings her hands back to Kara’s waist, pulling back enough so that she can better look Kara in the eyes.

“Kara, it is taking every bit of self-control that I have to stop myself from lying you down on this couch and fucking you like I have wanted to do for three years. So, yes – everything is okay, more than okay.”

And then Kara does the stupidest thing Lena can imagine – she blushes. She has the fucking nerve to blush, like her tongue hadn’t just been in Lena’s mouth, against her neck, seconds away from leaving a hickey she’d have a hard time hiding before breakfast. 

“Oh,” she says, nodding her head. “Right, yes. Right.” 

And she looks so cute, face flushed and eyes alight that Lena can’t resist bending down to kiss the sheepish grin off her face.

When they’ve finally stopped kissing and Lena has repositioned herself next to Kara on the couch, she can’t help but laugh. Truly laugh, and Kara joins in shortly after, trying to quiet them both down so as not to be heard by anyone outside. 

“I cannot believe that I actually kissed you,” Lena says finally.

“I can’t believe I got to finally touch your ass,” Kara says playfully, fully prepared this time for the pillow that Lena is already smacking her with. 

It’s quiet for a few minutes, both women filing the experience away for safe keeping. 

“Did you mean that, what you said before?” Kara asks some time later. 

“Which part?” 

“About, uh, about having wanted to – you know – with me for three years?” 

“Uh, yes?” Lena says, voice incredulous. 

“Right,” Kara replies, disbelief apparent.

“Kara,” she continues, “I have spent the last three years hiding the fact that I have had the biggest crush on you.” She’s nervous now, but she knows it’s important that Kara hears this, and she suddenly doesn’t mind if it’s for her. “When you walked into the teachers’ lounge and introduced yourself, I felt like a bumbling idiot. You made one chemistry joke and I swear to God I would have let you eat me out right then.”

“Lena,” Kara scolds, swatting her side. “Gross.”

“Oh please, darling, don’t get prudish now. Anyway, that’s not my point. My point is that this is something I have wanted since the day I met you. And I don’t just mean the sex stuff, though I am really enjoying how awkward talking about it is making you. I mean this.” She takes Kara’s hands in hers, looking her in the eyes as she continues, knowing that in them Kara can see everything she’s about to say. “I want you. And I have, for an embarrassing amount of time. You are the kindest, funniest, most incredibly person I know. You are this ray of light for everyone in your life and sometimes I don’t think you even realize it. And I’ve never told you because, well, because I haven’t always felt I could measure up to the kind of person I imagined you’d end up with. So, I never-”

Lena’s speech is interrupted by Kara’s lips crashing back into hers, emotion and want rushing into her. 

“Lena,” she says when they finally break apart, “you are everything I could want in a person. You are so, so ridiculously smart. And passionate. And you do these little things for people in your life that you think don’t matter but they do. And I have wanted so badly to ask you out for the last two years, but I’ve chickened out every single time.”

“Really?!” It’s Lena’s turn for disbelief.

“Really,” Kara confirms. “I, uh, I really wanted to after the mathletes competition. You were so excited, and you looked so beautiful, and then you hugged me and I felt like my heart was going to explode. But I got nervous, and I was afraid that if this wasn’t something you wanted – if I wasn’t someone you wanted – that it would ruin your memory of the day. And then when you suggested taking all of the students out to dinner, I was just happy to get to spend some more time with you that I figured it was still a win.”

“Oh, Kara,” Lena says, her fingers coming up to caress Kara’s cheek as she leans into the touch. 

“And earlier tonight,” Kara continues, “in the cafeteria, I had really wanted to kiss you. But then I thought that it might be the same kind of thing, where if it wasn’t what you wanted then you’d be literally locked in all night with me, and I would never want to make you uncomfortable. And so when you pulled away-”

“I was scared,” Lena admits. She pauses, fingers fiddling in her lap. When she looks up, Kara’s eyes are soft, urging her to continue. “I never thought that you’d want me in the ways that I want you, and so when the reality sunk in that you might, I kind of panicked. And I knew that if I let myself kiss you that I’d never want to stop.”

“And,” Kara asks, a shy smile on her face, “now that you have?”

“Now that I have, I know that I was right.”

Lena waits. The truth is out there and she knows that there’s no going back. She knows that she’ll never be able to kiss another woman without the memory of Kara on her lips, that she’ll never want in the same way again. Kara takes her hands, squeezing them in hers.

“Lena, I would really like to make you breakfast,” she says.

Lena looks up, finds Kara’s eyes on hers, soft and warm and with that same unspoken promise. “I know that we sort of did things backwards, and I’m really sorry that our first kiss was on this old leather sofa at work, but I would really like to take you on a proper date if you’ll have me. And it’s already four o’clock in the morning, so we can totally do something another day, but I figure you’ve got to eat at some point, and if you’d want to do it with me, then-”

“Kara,” she interrupts. “I would like nothing more.”

“Oh,” Kara says, somehow surprised by Lena’s response despite all that she’s shared over the last hour. “Okay, uh, great. Great!” She’s smiling now, the full Kara Danvers’ effect, and Lena can’t help leaning forward to kiss her, a toothy kiss that she knows is only the start.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The final chapter is a short epilogue, so I hope you’ve enjoyed this story! There’s so much more to say, but I hope this suffices. Share your thoughts in the comments below!


	6. Epilogue: Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tiny epilogue to say thank you!

“Lena, have you seen my backpack? The grey one with the Mickey Mouse keychain on it?” Kara races around the small den, haphazardly throwing papers and books across her desk in her fruitless search.

“Darling, you would lose your head if it weren’t attached,” comes the reply from the doorway where Lena stands, one hand on her hip and the other held out before her, said backpack dangling by her finger.

“I love you,” Kara says, crossing the room in three long strides, grabbing the bag with one hand and wrapping the other around her wife. She presses a soft, lingering kiss to her lips. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“If you’re lucky, you’ll never have to know,” Lena replies.

She glances around the small den, takes stock of the papers and books strewn about in Kara’s search. “I’ll clean those up tonight,” Kara promises, reading Lena’s mind.

A worn, leather couch leans against one wall, a bookshelf against another. When the school had upgraded the old teachers’ lounge sofa last year, Kara had immediately asked Principal Grant about its future. “The dumpster out back, I imagine,” she’d replied, paying Kara only half a mind. 

The next afternoon, Kara had driven it home in Winn’s old pick-up truck. And though they had reupholstered it, stuffing life back into each deflated cushion, Lena couldn’t help but smile every time she saw it. Its bones were the same, after all, and Lena loved the memories it held: their first kiss that fateful night five years ago most of all. 

“I still remember that first night,” Kara says now, her arms still around Lena, following her line of vision to the couch. She presses one last soft kiss to Lena’s temple. “I’m pretty sure I loved you even then.”

Lena presses herself further into Kara’s embrace, nuzzling into her neck and inhaling the same familiar scent that she’s loved all these years – vanilla, coconut, and what she now knows is and has always been home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank y’all so, so much for reading and sharing your feelings. I hope you enjoyed.


End file.
